In Technicolor
by raisintorte
Summary: She felt like Audrey Hepburn in a black and white movie. Ronon Dex/Jennifer Keller, Spoilers through Outcast


**Pairing: **Ronon Dex/Jennifer Keller

**Warnings: **Spoilers for Outcast

**A/N: **Thanks to wojelah and omglawdork for betaing and letting me spam them (also, omglawdork gets credit for the summary and story references), and reccea for helping put the final polish on. From the prompt "Pre-Ship - First Kiss - 'First Time For Everything'"

* * *

On days like today, working in the infirmary on Atlantis seemed no different from her internship days. Today she had set a broken foot, treated hay fever, and stitched up a marine. No alien bugs, no viruses, no nano-technology, no outbreaks - nothing different beyond the fact she was living in a city built by an ancient race in another galaxy: she could have been in a general practice anywhere.

Jennifer loved Atlantis. Everyone here was a little different - in most labs and hospitals they would have been the outsiders, here, they all had their place, their purpose, and she loved it. She felt like for the first time in her life she was really living her life. She was . . . happy. Even with on the days where she felt like she was in so far over her head with no way of getting out, she was happy.

Before Atlantis she had never been shot at, chased by men who looked like escapees from a WWE pay-per-view special, or feared for her life.

She also never thought herself capable of half the of things she'd pushed herself into doing. And she'd never met someone like Ronon.

There weren't guys like Ronon Dex on earth. Not like she had a lot of experience with men, but she knew Ronon was different.

Thinking about Ronon, and their almost-kiss made her heart beat a little bit faster and her stomach drop. The outbreak had been almost a week before; since then, they'd eaten a few meals together and he'd stopped by the infirmary a few times, but he hadn't made any move to kiss her - or even really try to get her alone. They'd been busy - he'd been off-world a few days and she'd pulled an all-nighter when a team of marines came back purple and itchy.

She hadn't exactly made a move for him either: part of her wanted to be courted. Old-fashioned as it might be, she wanted him to make the next move. She was interested, and she was sure he knew that, so she'd wait a little longer.

It was her night to be on-call, so she was going to catch a few hours' sleep in her quarters before reporting back. Doctor Cartwright was in charge, and she would let Jennifer know if something big came up.

She had just gotten back to her quarters when the door chimed. "Enter." She smiled when Ronon came through the door.

"Sheppard's father died. I'm going back to Earth with him." Ronon must have raided the laundry again, because he was wearing a ridiculously ill-fitting black t-shirt. Bad outfit choices notwithstanding, he still looked hot.

"Colonel Carter stopped by and gave me the heads-up. I mean, it's not like he'd come and talk to me, but we haven't replaced Kate yet, so I'm pulling double duty." Ronon just grunted and moved toward her.

"Should be gone only a few days." He kept moving toward her as he spoke. He was smiling, so she wasn't exactly worried, but the look in his eyes did make her a bit nervous - in a good way.

"I'll miss you. When are you leaving?" She felt her back touch the wall. He kept moving until his body was pressed up against hers, practically pinning her in place. Her heart was beating faster and her stomach was flipping in the most delightful way.

"Ten minutes. Sheppard doesn't exactly know I'm coming." Ronon leaned a little closer and she felt his breath on her neck.

"You should get going." She wrapped her arms around him anyway, grinning.

"Had something to do first." She was just waiting for him to kiss her and he was so close, but his lips hadn't touched hers yet.

"Oh." She could've smacked herself. Ronon had her pressed up against a wall and all she could say was oh. As she was over-thinking her word choice, he finally leaned in and kissed her. Teasing her lips softly with his - it was maddening. She tried to deepen the kiss but he thwarted her efforts by sucking gently on her lower lip. She felt like Audrey Hepburn in a black and white movie - the kiss was oddly chaste, but promised much more later, off-screen. It was like he was leaving a place-holder, a spot for them to return to when he got back.

She made a small whimper when Ronon pulled back, his body still leaning into hers. "Want anything from Earth?"

Jennifer thought about it for a second. She could ask for chocolate or something like that, but really, she wanted something they both could enjoy. "How about some whipped cream?"

Ronon gave her a quizzical look. "What's that?"

"Didn't you go to the movie night last week when Sheppard choose Varsity Blues?" Jennifer started grinning - she had a feeling Ronon would like what was coming once he figured it out.

He paused for a second and said, "Was that the football movie with the whiny kid from that show Cadman made me watch?"

"Yup." Jennifer wrapped her arms around him a bit tighter because she knew had head to leave soon to catch the wormhole to earth. "Remember the scene when the girl came out wearing nothing but white stuff all over body?"

Jennifer could almost hear the gears whirring in Ronon's head as he registered exactly what she was talking about. "That stuff's called whipped cream? Awesome."

"I thought you'd like that." Jennifer glanced over his shoulder at the clock on her desk. "You should get going."

"I know." Ronon pressed his lips to hers one last time, his hand lingering on hers as he pulled away. "See you in a few days."

"Okay." She followed him to the door and smiled as it whooshed shut behind him.

Audrey might never have worn a whipped cream bikini in one of her movies, but everyone knew all the real fun happened off screen.


End file.
